Different Commands
by StarWarrior72
Summary: Because commanding different people is just that, different. ONESHOT


"No. Absolutely not. I forbid it." Vader crossed his arms and glared at his wife.

She had been leaving the room, but she turned back to him. "That's nice, Ani. You tell him."

"Me?" Vader spluttered.

"Yes, you." Padme nodded firmly.

"You're the politician!"

"You're the one denying what he wants. He doesn't ask for much." She answered reasonably.

"But- _Solo_?"

"Luke likes him most."

"Don't you remember last time? He taught Luke how to fire a blaster!"

Padme smiled slightly, "I seem to remember you following it up with a lesson on lightsabers."

"That's _different_. I'm his father."

"And Han is his favourite babysitter."

"Han is an irresponsible bad influence!"

"I didn't come to argue about this. You can make the decision, and you can call the sitter you decide on. _And_ you can tell Luke your decision."

"What about Leia? She must have a more reasonable request."

"Leia doesn't care one way or another. If you're having a hard time choosing, why don't you talk to Luke? I really have to go now, I'm going to be late." She turned and left the room.

Vader glared after her. Then he turned in the general direction of Luke's room. He knew what Luke did when his parents argued. The boy would be up there, sitting silently on his bed, waiting for it to blow over.

He should go up and make sure that the argument hadn't upset his son too much. He mounted the stairs, and his daughter brushed past, going the opposite direction.

"Where do you think you're going?" He demanded.

"Mommy said I could go to Tammy's house. Her mom's going to be here to get me soon."

Vader nodded, and the girl leapt the last four steps, her little legs barely able to catch her. Vader made a mental note to continue working on landings with her. Then he continued up the stairs to where his son sat on his bed.

Padme had reluctantly agreed to allow Vader to train his son as a Sith. With some difficulty, he had convinced her to allow him to teach their daughter some techniques as well. For self-defence, he had said.

Luke had proven himself to be dramatically unsuited for it. He cried when anyone was hurt. For the Force's sake, he cried when the 'bad guys' in the stories his mother read to him were killed. He smiled brightly. He had endless enthusiasm for trying to make people feel better.

All this was against Vader's very best attempts at influencing him otherwise. He had made Luke's bedroom a veritable dark cavern, the exact reverse of the palace in the clouds Padme had designed for Leia. He had told Luke almost every childishly cruel thing he could think of to do, from burning ants with a magnifying glass to insulting people. Luke had taken those lessons deeply to heart, vehemently berating anyone who chose to perform them.

Much to Vader's frustration, the boy didn't even _look_ like a Sith. He had tried everything. Dark clothing, red lightsaber (training only, of course), he had convinced the boy to wear yellow contact lenses for a few weeks, but Luke had seen them as an amusing joke, not a meaningful change to his appearance. He had even dyed Luke's hair black. But that had just made the boy look pale, anemic even. He had also acquired an annoying habit of hiding behind his overlong hair.

When Vader entered his son's room, there was the boy, sitting on his bed, wrapped in a black blanket, and hiding behind his long hair.

Vader walked to his son's bed, sitting down beside the boy. Luke withdrew from his private world in his head and focussed on his father.

"I'm not gonna get to see Han, am I?" he asked in his small voice he used when he was upset.

Vader sighed inwardly. Why hadn't he chosen to train Leia? She was bold with her emotions, unafraid to demand what she wanted, and so ambitious! Luke was shying away from even speaking loudly.

Still, he felt sorry for Luke. He didn't allow the child many friends, afraid it would keep him from turning properly to the Dark Side when he was old enough to truly make the decision. The boy had, as such, latched on desperately to one of the only group of people anywhere _near _his age that he was allowed near. Most of the baby sitters Vader hired he wouldn't have minded the boy becoming attached to. But the one day he couldn't find a sitter whose parents had good, strong, Imperial commitment, Luke had decided that he loved his babysitter.

Vader had returned to find Han Solo kneeling on the floor of the training gym, carefully steadying the blaster that dwarfed its young shooter.

"Daddy? I'm not gonna get to see Han, am I?" Luke asked again.

Vader looked at him. "I've told you not to call me daddy."

Luke frowned, starting to retreat again, "Leia gets to. Why can't I?"

"Your sister has a different destiny from yours."

"Is that why she gets to go to school?"

"You are going to be a Sith. I can teach you everything you need to know."

"I wanna go to school."

"Luke, you don't need to go to school. What you need to do is be attentive in your studies of the Dark Side."

"But, Sith just hurt people! I don't wanna be a Sith."

"You are going to be a Sith. It is not your choice to make.

"Daddy, why doesn't Leia have to?"

"Your mother would only let me train one of you."

"Mommy doesn't like Sith. I mean, as a group. She likes you."

"No."

"Then why does she let you train me?"

"It was what we agreed on. She could let me train one of you, or I could train both of you while she fought to stop me."

"But why me? Why not Leia?"

"I asked to train you."

"Why me?" Luke asked looking up at his father.

"Sith are traditionally male."

"I thought so." Luke sighed. He was lying on his belly by that point, and he put his hands on his father's thigh and rested his chin between them.

Subconsciously, Vader started to stroke the boy's hair. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't think it was because I was special."

Vader didn't know how to answer, so he didn't.

"What happens if the Empire falls?" Luke asked at last.

"It all depends who it falls to."

"What if there are Jedi still out there? What if they beat us?"

"They would presumably attempt to start the Republic again."

"Oh." There was a pause, "Daddy? What would happen to us?"

"They would kill me," Vader answered without pausing.

"What about Mommy and Leia?"

"Your mother and sister would join them. I'm sure of it."

"Even though they'd killed you?"

"Your mother would think it was for the best that I was dead."

"She wouldn't cry?"

"I think she would cry. I hope she would cry. I think it would upset her, but she would see that it had to happen for what she wants to be achieved."

"Why would Leia go with them? Why wouldn't she stay with us?"

"Your mother has taught your sister her ideals."

"Oh. What would happen to me?" Luke asked. Vader saw where the boy had been taking the conversation. He looked down at the child. Luke's blue eyes gazed up at him through a curtain of dyed black hair.

"I suppose it would depend on your age."

"Right now?"

"I'm not sure."

"When would you be sure."

"Perhaps in ten years."

"And then?"

"They would kill you too."

"And Mommy and Leia would still go with them."

Vader paused, "Yes."

"But they'd cry, right?"

"I believe so."

"Daddy?"

"Luke, I've told you not to call me that."

"Would you cry?"

Vader skirted the question carefully. He didn't know how to answer it, "They would kill me before you."

"But if they decided to kill me first. To try to make it worse for you?"

"That is not the Jedi way. Unless there was a more practical reason to kill you first, I would be killed before you."

"But if not? Would you cry for me?"

Vader pulled his son close against his body. Six was much too young for Luke to be asking those questions of his father. Too young to be asking the questions at all. He didn't want to think of it. He wanted to shelter the boy from those thoughts.

"Luke, ask me that again when you're older."

"Why?"

"At this age, they would make every effort to turn you to their cause. They wouldn't kill you."

"Daddy, do you love me?"

"Don't call me daddy. I am your father. Not your daddy. You're not to call your mother mommy either." Vader said, once more avoiding his son's questions.

"Father, do you love me?"

"Sith do not love, Luke."

"I'm important to you, aren't I?"

"You will be very powerful someday, and I look forward to training you."

"Oh." Luke said sadly.

"Why are you asking me these questions?"

Luke had crawled away from his father, curling up against the large, black pillows. "I don't like waking up."

"I'll wake you later, if you like."

"No, that's not what I mean. I don't like waking up. I don't like living."

Vader stared at his son in horror, "What do you mean? Why not?"

"I don't understand what's so great about it. All I ever do is eat and sleep and train."

"That's perfectly normal if you only substitute training for school."

"But, Daddy, training isn't school."

"Yes it is. Training is your school for what you will be when you grow up."

"No. It's not. I'm never going to get to do what I want."

"What do you want to do today, then?"

"Not today." Luke said, pulling his blankets around his slight form.

"Why not today? Would tomorrow work better for you?"

"Daddy, that's not what I mean. You say I'm going to be a Sith. You make it just a fact. I don't get why. I don't wanna be a Sith."

"What do you want to be?" Vader asked, moving closer to his son.

"I don't know."

"Then being a Sith is as good as anything else."

"No. I just want to be allowed to decide."

"But, Luke, the galaxy needs you. We all need you to be a Sith. We need you to start your training right now."

"The galaxy doesn't need me."

Vader took his son's shoulders in his hands, making the boy look into his face. "Luke, the galaxy needs you. You were born with precious gifts most of the galaxy doesn't have. They need you to protect them. I need you to train."

"They don't need _me_. They just need my body. Same for you."

"That's not true, Luke. It's important to me that it be you."

"Why?"

"Because you're my son."

"That's not the same."

"How is it different?"

"If I hadn't been born, if you'd had a different kid, you'd want them just the same."

"Yes," Vader answered, still confused. "But I didn't, I had you. And if you were to die, and Padme were to have another child, I would miss you."

"You would?"

"I certainly would. I would never be able to forgive myself for failing to protect you."

The little sliver of hope he'd seen in his boy's eyes was snuffed.

"What's wrong is that they want my body to protect them, and you want to know you can keep me alive, and you wanna train me to protect the galaxy. That's just my body. What my body can do and who my parents are. It's not_ me_."

"What do you mean by _you_?"

"How I feel. Who I love."

"Luke, Sith don't love."

Luke leapt up, tottering unevenly on the mattress, "Daddy! I'm not a Sith! You're my Daddy, and Mommy's my Mommy, and I don't wanna be the bad guy! I wanna be the good guy! I wanna go to school, and have a hobby, and have friends, and be someone, not just something!"

Vader pulled the boy back to the bed, but the child turned his face into the pillows, crying.

"Luke? You can have Han as a babysitter. Are you going to be all right?"

Luke pulled his face out of the pillow, "It's not just that, Daddy! I don't just want to have Han today!"

"You may call me Daddy, and your mother Mommy. I'll see about enrolling you in school. You can meet friends there, and if you work hard, you can be ahead of your class and you can work on some kind of hobby in class."

"It's not just that!" the boy wailed.

Vader was beginning to get irritated, "Look, that's the best I can do. Take it or leave it."

Luke pushed the tears away from his face with one sleeve, "Take it."

Vader stood and left his son's dark room, confused and hurt. He arranged for Han to come to babysit his son as he performed his duties for the day. He didn't understand what had hurt his son so deeply. He was a good father, wasn't he? He taught his son, he spent most of his days with the child. He made sure his son was always fed and well rested. He wasn't a bad parent, was he? Just for knowing his son's destiny?


End file.
